Photo: Graeme Furlong
Bayside United have begun their 2017 NPLW Victoria preparations, signing Emma Runnalls and Sienna Fogarty, while defender Marianna Anthony moves the other way to join Alamein FC.
For Runnalls and Fogarty, the move marks a return to the South-East suburbs and Kingston Heath, who joined Sinisa Cohadzic’s side for the 2016 season after forging early careers at Sandringham SC.
Despite the familiar surrounds, head coach Graeme Dudley has ensured the players that they are stepping into a new entity, albeit with a touch of familiarity.
“As far as having them back, it’s a new era and a new environment so it’s not really a [return],” Dudley said.
“From a footballing point of view, there was a couple of weaknesses we had in our team last year that they’re definitely there to reinforce. Personally, they’re keen and like the area, they like the whole situation around Bayside which is hopefully a more relaxed environment for them to come back to.
“It’s been made clear that they’re not coming back to anything and that they’re coming into a brand new squad and a brand new club – although there’s a few familiar faces around the clubrooms, which is good.”
Runnalls has amassed just under 70 goals in the Victorian top-flight in a career that’s spanned eight seasons, the majority of which were at Sandy.
She was handed a league debut for the club in 2009, where she netted eight league goals in her first season in the top-flight, tallying 62 goals for Sandringham overall.
A serious toe injury curtailed the progress of the aerial expert in 2015, but recovered to string together a seven-goal season for Alamein, and is a handful for opposition defences on her day.
Ball-playing utility midfielder/defender Fogarty joins Bayside United similarly after a one-season stint with the Dashers, having made her league debut in 2010.
She scored in her second appearance off the bench for Sandringham in a 2-2 draw with Preston Lions, making a total of 118 appearances for the club, scoring 22 times, and even donning the captains armband in 2015.
She made 26 appearances during her time at Alamein, although featured mainly off the bench in the final two months of the season.
Bayside identified a need for taller, stronger and more experienced players to help control proceedings by holding up the play and winning aerial duels.
The signing of the pair Dudley is hoping will allow Bayside to play the progressive football they want to play.
“It supplements what we’re trying to do,” the head coach said.
“It’s important that we bring some of those characters in that are willing to win those high balls, to stand and hold players off and really allow us to play the way we want to play.
“The strength really was a missing factor, especially in the front line.”
The pair’s signing is the first off-season action for Bayside United, and it marks an eighth straight season of playing alongside each other and they’ll be greeted back to familiar first-team faces such as Emily Morris-Krause, Kirstie Shearing and Emma Robers to name a few.
Former South Melbourne and Senior NTC defender Marianna Anthony joins Alamein FC to provide ample competition across the defence at HA Smith Reserve.
Capable of playing in the centre or more predominantly as a right-back, Anthony is mobile across the park and is a talented Futsal player, having appeared for the Victorian State Team for their 2014 and 2015 National Championship campaigns.
The youngster made 22 appearances for Bayside in her inaugural NPLW season, netting twice across the stretch of the season.